Hello Members and Fellow Art Lovers
The mission of the organisation is to promote, encourage and foster the arts and cultural activities in Gibraltar and to export our culture abroad.
ENGLISH TOWNS IN THE 18th CENTURY: SOCIETY, ART & ARCHITECTURE
April 7 2021
We are delighted to announce an addition illustrated talk to be held on the 7th April at 7.30pm, English Towns in the 18th Century: Society, Art and Architecture.
This talk has very kindly been sponsored by Paul Church of Church & Co
Provincial towns developed substantially over the 18th century, with elegant new buildings providing spaces for social life: assembly rooms for dances and card playing, theatres for plays and concerts, grandstands to watch races. In county towns especially, the gentry had houses for use over the winter and for special occasions, so families could socialise, shop and avoid the isolation of country life. The increasingly prosperous middle classes who lived in the towns could commission portraits, buy the latest books, go to plays and promenade along socially exclusive walks in their elegant dress. The lecture will look at various towns, such as York, Norwich and Nottingham, as well as considering the rise of resorts such as Bath and Brighton.
Caroline Knight is a architectural historian, trained at the Courtauld and specialising in 16th to 18th century English and Scottish architecture. She is a lecturer at the V&A on year courses and short courses, and lecturers for the Art Fund, and for the Royal Oak Foundation in the US. She has researched and written a history of Kensington Palace. Caroline has contributed to a book on the Cecil family, and has written several articles on architectural and social history and the history of travel. She also wrote London’s Country Houses (2009), and contributed a chapter to a history of the Royal Academy (Yale, forthcoming).
The Arts Society Gibraltar's next lecture, A Brief Story of Wine will be held on Wednesday 21 April 2021
April ILLUSTRATED TALK
A Brief Story of Wine
An Illustrated Talk by David Wright
21 April 2021
Please note this illustrated talk is only available via Zoom.
Wine has been part of our global society for over 7,000 years, and the story tells of its origin and appearance in all societies across the Mediterranean and through Europe. There is rich evidence of the role wine has played in these societies and how it became an important component of faith, well-being and festivity. From the kwevris of Georgia in 5,000 B.C., the symposia in ancient Greece, the thermopolia of Pompeii, the hospices of Europe, to the dining tables of fine society wine has been ever present. Drawings, paintings, engravings, buildings, pottery and wine labels themselves all contribute to the story.
I have been a wine retailer, importer and distributor for 30 years. In that time, I have publicly presented tastings and talks on wine to trade and private audiences. These have taken the form of wine ‘tastings’ or charity events where a particular subject is presented and wines tasted. I have developed a talk, A Brief Story of Wine, a great subject, and full of rich evidence, going back 7,000 years, in the form of paintings, decorated drinking vessels, buildings and literature that contribute to the story.